Tuesday, November 14, 2006

So Prince Charles has got a birthday present. Simultaneously being promoted to admiral, general and air chief marshal seems mindboggling to most of us given that he is no longer a member of the armed forces. Indeed according to this article from the BBC his military career ended 30 years ago.

In a modern democracy this is no way to behave. Titles such as General, Admiral etc should be reserved for those who have genuinely earned those titles and who command the forces in question.

If we want to retain a monarchy then fair enough retain a monarchy but lets retain it for what it is - a tourist attraction. Links between the monarchy and the armed forces should be broken. As should links between the monarchy and the church.

The armed forces should be under the political control of the elected government of the day. Decisions to take this country to war should be approved by parliament and once taken the military decisions should be left to the military.

The church should be perfectly capable of running its own affairs without the need for a “defender of the faith”. What is Prince Charles going to do if he becomes King? How will he act as defender of the faith – perhaps he will put on one of his many uniforms and ride into battle!

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I see your point, but my reaction is more 'so what'. So long as he isn't getting a salary for the positions anyway.

Your other point is one closer to my heart. We should disestablish the CofE. Why should one church have special privileges? And the Prime Minister should not be appointing Bishops. Leave the church to govern itself. Then we can get rid of the ban on catholic monarchs.

(its funny how different people have different priorities in these essentially meaningless topics - it will make little difference to the power structures in the UK...)

About Me

I was first elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor in 1992 and was re-elected on three further occasions before standing down in 2003.
I was Chair of Newbury Constituency during the by-election in 1993.
I have stood for Parliament at each of the last three elections.